From screens to grids: A web scrapping analysis of electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa

IF 2.2 Q1 Social Sciences

Electricity Journal Pub Date : 2025-05-22 DOI:10.1016/j.tej.2025.107472

Pius Gamette , Simplice A. Asongu

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

In view of the lagging position of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) compared to other regional blocs in accessing electricity coupled with the wide disparity in rural-urban access to electricity, this study adopts the scrapping method to efficiently gather and analyse social discourse in real time. From the YouTube platform, this study examined 887 comments from January 2014 to July 2024. The result revealed that "ANC," "Africa," "south," "power," and "will" were the most frequently discussed topics in the discourse of electricity access. Also, more positive-tone comments were recorded than negative-tone remarks within the period. In terms of subjective polarity analysis, comments were positively inclined. The top ten topics that emerged were “ANC”, “Energy”, “People”, “Country”, “Government”, “Electricity”, “Eskom”, “Africa”, “Power” and “South”. The heatmap showed that there were a few topics with high correlation values. For cluster analysis, “South”, “Country”, “Eskom”, “Power” and “Energy” had positive sentiments and contents. On the contrary, “Government”, “Africa” and “People” were topics of negative sentiments and contents. Only “ANC” connected neutral sentiments and content. “ANC”, “Africa” and “country” had an 81.77 % degree of centrality in the public digital discourse on access to electricity in SSA countries. This study has important ramifications for SSA, an energy-poor region towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7.

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从屏幕到电网：撒哈拉以南非洲地区电力接入的网络报废分析

鉴于撒哈拉以南非洲地区（SSA）在电力获取方面相对于其他区域集团的滞后地位，以及城乡电力获取的巨大差距，本研究采用了scrapingmethod对社会话语进行实时高效的收集和分析。从2014年1月到2024年7月，这项研究调查了YouTube平台上的887条评论。结果显示，“ANC”、“非洲”、“南方”、“权力”和“意志”是电力接入话语中最常讨论的话题。此外，在这段时间内，积极语气的评论比消极语气的评论更多。在主观极性分析方面，评论倾向于积极。出现的前十大话题是“非国大”、“能源”、“人民”、“国家”、“政府”、“电力”、“Eskom”、“非洲”、“电力”和“南方”。热图显示，有几个话题具有高相关值。聚类分析中，“South”、“Country”、“Eskom”、“Power”和“Energy”具有积极的情绪和内容。相反，“政府”、“非洲”和“人民”是负面情绪和内容的话题。只有“ANC”把中立的情绪和内容联系起来。“ANC”、“非洲”和“国家”在SSA国家关于电力获取的公共数字话语中的中心度为81.77 %。该研究对能源匮乏地区SSA实现可持续发展目标（SDG） 7具有重要意义。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Electricity Journal Business, Management and Accounting-Business and International Management

CiteScore

5.80

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

31 days

期刊介绍： The Electricity Journal is the leading journal in electric power policy. The journal deals primarily with fuel diversity and the energy mix needed for optimal energy market performance, and therefore covers the full spectrum of energy, from coal, nuclear, natural gas and oil, to renewable energy sources including hydro, solar, geothermal and wind power. Recently, the journal has been publishing in emerging areas including energy storage, microgrid strategies, dynamic pricing, cyber security, climate change, cap and trade, distributed generation, net metering, transmission and generation market dynamics. The Electricity Journal aims to bring together the most thoughtful and influential thinkers globally from across industry, practitioners, government, policymakers and academia. The Editorial Advisory Board is comprised of electric industry thought leaders who have served as regulators, consultants, litigators, and market advocates. Their collective experience helps ensure that the most relevant and thought-provoking issues are presented to our readers, and helps navigate the emerging shape and design of the electricity/energy industry.